GAO

Cybersecurity Bill Amendment Aims To Cut Waste Via IT Consolidation

By

Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet and Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) have filed a bipartisan amendment to the Cybersecurity Act of 2012 to conserve energy, save taxpayer dollars and reduce government waste by requiring federal agencies to shut down needlessly duplicative federal data centers.

Agencies have been instructed to develop consolidation plans under the administration’s Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI), which would save over $2 billion according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). However, a number of agencies have been slow to begin to implement the plans – or, in some cases, to even take stock of the total number of centers they currently manage. The proposed amendment to the cybersecurity bill seeks to remedy that. Keep reading →

 /  Published July 31, 2012 at 1:00 PM

GAO Finds Costly IT Delays At Federal Health Center

By

While officials are making progress implementing upgrades at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center (FHCC), a GAO report has cited costly IT delays for the VA and DoD.

Despite an investment of more than $122 million for IT capabilities at the FHCC (pictured above), the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense have not completed work on all components required by an Executive Agreement, which were to have been in place in time for the FHCC’s opening in October 2010. Keep reading →

 /  Published June 27, 2012 at 4:31 PM

FedSMC: Small Science Investments Can Yield Big Returns

By


From developing a foot and mouth disease vaccine to simulating nuclear explosions, government leaders shared examples on Tuesday of how science advances government missions during a panel discussion at the annual Federal Senior Management Conference in Cambridge, Maryland.

The discussion, which included executives from the Government Accountability Office, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security and NASA and was led by FedInsider Executive Editor Tom Temin, offered a glimpse into the range and power of science in the federal government. A common thread among the panelists was accomplishing big things with fewer resources. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 17, 2012 at 11:27 AM

FOSE: Big Data, Social Media Pose New Hurdles For Records Managers

By


The explosion of records across the government, including those generated by emerging technologies and social media, is putting new pressures on federal information managers.

The primary challenge is managing the onslaught of records in a new environment, Alan Linden, a senior technology consultant at Electronic Image Designers, said Thursday at the annual FOSE convention in Washington, D.C. Keep reading →

 /  Published April 6, 2012 at 11:44 AM

Why $1 Coins Place Hidden Tax On The Public

By

President Obama’s new budget shows savings of $50 million annually by curtailing the production of unwanted $1 coins. As a former budget director for President Reagan, I know first-hand how difficult it is to cut spending and how important it is to guard against faddish programs that claim savings but actually add to federal spending and to the deficit – which is what you’d get if you let Congress replace the dollar bill with the dollar coin.

The latest proposals to do just that are all the more vexing, given that consumers overwhelmingly reject the dollar coin. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 13, 2012 at 8:20 AM

GAO Launches iPhone, iPad App

By


The Government Accountability Office unveiled an iPhone and iPad application on Tuesday that links to mobile versions of all its reports, podcasts, videos and congressional testimony, Nextgov has reported.

The watchdog agency created the app because more people were visiting online versions of its reports and testimonies on smartphones and tablets, according to an emailed press release. Keep reading →

 /  Published March 7, 2012 at 10:13 AM

GAO Report Finds Government Inefficiencies, Encourages Action

By


A GAO report to Congress has identified several areas where the government duplicates efforts, creating unnecessary costs and inefficiencies, but also reflects an improvement over last year.

The 2012 Duplicative Program Report, recently released by the Government Accountability Office, identified 51 areas “where programs may be able to achieve greater efficiencies or become more effective in providing government services.” Keep reading →

 /  Published February 28, 2012 at 4:00 PM

Nine Factors Common To Successful Federal IT Acquisitions

By


The federal government’s record for acquiring major information technology projects has rarely earned high marks.

However, a new report from the Government Accountability Office identified seven occasions were agency IT acquisition investments were deemed successful. Keep reading →

 /  Published November 23, 2011 at 8:48 AM

Appropriators, Not Just OMB, Contribute To GAO’s Finding On IT Overspending

By

I got a chance to look through the Government Accountability Office’s latest report recommending that the Office of Management and Budget “needs to improve its guidance on IT investments” in government.

No doubt, the biggest underlying issue driving over investment in federal information technology is redundancy in government. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 31, 2011 at 5:44 PM

OMB Method For Tracking Federal IT Costs Leads To Overspending Says GAO Audit

By

Federal government efforts to identify and track federal information technology investments remain insufficient to curtail duplicative spending, according to the latest in a series of a reports released by the Government Accountability Office critical of government IT spending practices.

The GAO report, released Oct. 27, took primary aim at the the White House Office of Management and Budget, and the way it categorizes and tracks IT investments, citing a number of principle shortcomings, although those familiar with OMB’s operating levers note the problem goes beyond OMB. Keep reading →

 /  Published October 31, 2011 at 5:05 PM
Page 2 of 512345